Removable plate for supporting ends of collapsible drums



May 4. 1954 M. M. CUNNINGHAM REMOVABLE PLATE FOR SUPPORTING ENDS OFCOLLAPSIBLE DRUMS Filed Sept. 18, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.MM/m/ flf. cmw/wa/a/ am/b2 -&. M ATTORNEY ay 4, 4 t M. CUNNINGHAM2,677,406

REMOVABLE PLATE FOR SUPPORTING ENDS OF COLLAPSIBLE DRUMS Filed Sept. 18,1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 2am axw/ w J/ 4110mm? Patented May 4, 1954REMOVABLE PLATE FOR SUPPORTING ENDS OF COLLAPSIBLE DRUMS Marion MorganCunningham, Woonsocket, R. I., assignor to United States Rubber Company,New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application September 18,1951, Serial No. 247,085

3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to collapsible shipping drums formed ofreinforced plastic material such as reinforced rubber, and moreparticularly to a removable plate adapted to support the lower end ofsuch drum when the drum is suspended in a vertical position so that thecontents of the drum can be drained therefrom through a bung hole at thelower end of the drum.

In my application Serial No. 131,407, filed December 6, 1949, forCollapsible Container (now Patent 2,612,924), there is shown, describedand claimed a collapsible drum or barrel formed of reinforced rubber.Such barrel has a lifting ring at one end thereof and a central cableconnecting the flexible opposite ends of the barrel so as'to limit thedistance therebetween. The barrel of said application is strong anddurable and may be made in various sizes, and it is well adapted for usein shipping and storing various materials such as gasoline, oil,corrosive liquids, paints, dyes and the like. This collapsible drum iswell adapted for use in place of the well known 55 gallon steel drum nowin extensive commercial use, as it is made of strong durablenon-corroding material, and when empty can be collapsed into a smallspace to facilitate its return for reuse.

The present application relates to a supporting plate constructed to beassociated with a collapsible shipping drum of the general type'justreferred to, and adapted to support the lower end of the collapsibledrum to prevent it from sagging down out of shape when the drum issupported in a vertical suspended condition by a lifting ring at itsupper end and by a central cable that connects the lower end of the drumwith such lifting ring. The use of this supporting plate is particularlydesirable when the flexible shipping drum is suspended as just mentionedwith its bung hole at the lower end of the drum so that the contents ofthe drum will flow by gravity out of the bung hole.

It is found that the collapsible shipping drum herein contemplated willretain well the cylindrical shape of its side walls when it is full ofliquid that is confined therein by closing the bung hole, but as theliquid is removed from the drum it tends to sag and distort from thedesired cylindrical shape, particularly when the weight of the drum andcontent is supported by suspending the drum from its upper lifting ring.

Having in mind the foregoing, the present invention contemplates adisc-like supporting plate adapted to be removably secured to the lowerend of a collapsible shipping drum of the type above described, so thatwhen such drum is suspended in a vertical position so that liquid may bedrained from the bung hole at the lower end of the drum, this plate willsupport the lower flexible end of such drum and prevent it from saggingout of shape.

The above and other features of the present invention will be furtherunderstood from the following description when read in connection withthe accompanying drawings, wherein,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, with parts in section, of a collapsibleshipping drum suspended in a vertical position, and having a supportingplate attached to its lower end in accordance with the presentinvention.

Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the disk-like supporting plate shown in Fig.1.

Fig. 3 on a larger scale is a sectional view taken on the line 33 ofFig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a bottom View of parts shown in Fig. 3.

The collapsible shipping drum or barrelshown in Fig. 1 ofthe drawing anddesignated by the numeral 10 is formed primarily of reinforced plasticmaterial and is preferably formed of two or more plies of rubber coatedcord fabric molded and vulcanized in the shape shown to provide a strongdurable shipping drum or barrel, which when empty can be collapsed intoa small space to facilitate the shipping of the same to a return pointfor reuse. Such drum or barrel may be of a size to contain anywhere froma few gallons to many gallons of liquid and is preferably builtsubstantially as shown and described in the above cited application.

The drum it) when full of liquid or when pressurized by introducing airor gas therein will take the approximate shape shown in full lines inFig. l of the drawing where it will be seen that it has well shapedcylindrical sidewalls secured to the upper end it and lower end 12. Thisdrum or barrel I0 is preferably closed throughout except for a bung holeprovided at one end thereof in the metal flange fitting to be described.

In order to prevent the ends H and I2 of the drum from projectingoutwardly under pressure somewhat like the ends of an egg, it is founddesirable to provide within the drum a central cable i3, adapted toanchor one end to the other and thereby limit the distance between theseends. This cable Ls preferably secured in place inside the drum byemploying the construction best shown in Fig. 3 wherein the means forsecuring the lower end of the cable 13 to the low drum wall 12 is shownin cross-section. The same type of means is employed for securing theupper end of the cable [3 to the upper drum wall ll. Now referring moreparticularly to Fig. 3, it will be seen that the lower end of the cablel3 has soldered or otherwise secured thereto the ball shape metal head Mwhich seats within a pocket formed in a face of the annular metal plateprovided with the boss IS in which there is formed a central hole toreceive the cable i3. This plate [5 is preferably provided with fourlugs I! each of which is internally threaded to receive the threaded endportion of a clamping bolt. The plate [5 is disposed inside of the drumif! and it is fastened in place therein by providing at the outer faceof the wall [2 a disk-like metal plate 18 having four bolt holes formedtherethrough, and seated against the outer face of this plate I8 is thering attaching yoke 19 adapted to secure a lifting ring 20 to the end [2of the drum. The parts l5, l8 and I9 are firmly secured together withthe wall l2- squeezed therebetween by tightening up the four clampingbolts 2|.

When liquid is removed from the interior of the drum, without permittingair to enterthe drum, it will collapse inwardly substantially asindicated by the dot and dash lines ID. This makes it possible to fillor empty the drum without permitting air to contact the liquid beingforced into or out of the drum. This is highly desirable in many cases,such fOr example as when a corrosive liquid is being shipped and anyspillage of the same would prove serious, or when a highly volatileliquid or one that oxidizes in contact with air is being shipped.

The bung hole above mentioned and shown in Fig. l as at the lower end ofthe container l0 that is suspended in an upright position by thehoisting hook 22, is preferably formed by providing a fitting having aninternally threaded metal sleeve 24 and an outwardly flaring flange 25that seats firmly against the inner face of the lower drum wall 12. Thisfitting is secured in place by placing outside of the sleeve 24 a ring26 having the outwardly flaring flange 21 that seats against the outerwall of the drum. An opening is cut in the wall l2 to receive the sleeve24, and the marginal portions of this wall are tightly clamped betweenthe flanges 25 and 2'! by rolling the outer end portion of the sleeve 24outwardly over the edge of the ring 26 to clamp this ring in place. Thebung hole or opening within the internally threaded sleeve 24 isnormally closed by a threaded closure plug, not shown. This bung hole isshown as closed in Fig. l by the threaded inner end of the faucet orspigot 28 which is screwed into such bung hole, and this spigot has theusual valve which may be rotated by the thumb piece 29.

If the flexible drum or barrel i0 is filled with a liquid, such asindicated by L, and the drum is suspended in a vertical position by theupper ring 20, as shown in Fig. 1, the drum will retain to a relativelyhigh degree its symmetrical shape so long as the drum is completely fullof liquid or is pressurized by forcing a gas into the drum in additionto the liquid. This isbecause when the drum is full all walls are heldpressed outwardly into shape. But if the drum ID is so..- pended asshown in Fig. l and the faucet 28 is open to drain the liquid therefrom,the drum will sag inwardly as indicated by [6 and its lower end will sagdownwardly as the liquid is removed, unless additional means is providedto support the lower end of the drum. Such additional supporting meansis provided, in accordance with the present invention, by forming adisk-like supporting plate 30 preferably in the form of a metal castinghaving the shape best shown in Fig. 2. This plate may have thereinforcing ribs 3| and may be cut away as indicated at 32 to reduce itsweight. The plate 30 also has the relatively large hole 33 adapted toclear the bung hole structure above described. An important feature ofthe supporting plate 30 resides in means for removably securing it tothe lower lifting ring 29. This attaching means, as shown, comprises thecut away portion 34 formed at approximately the center of the plate 30to clear the lifting ring 29, and the plate 30 has the projection 35adapted to project into a ring 20 and is provided with a curved recessto receive the curved inner face of the ring 26 as shown in Fig. 3. Theprojection 35 is also preferably provided with a lip 36'which serves aslocking means that prevents the supporting plate from becomingaccidentally disengaged from the ring 26. .As a result of thisconstruction the supporting plate 38 may be easily secured to the ring26., and when in the position shown in Fig. 1 it will serve to tosupport the lower end of the drum to prevent such end from saggingdownwardly under the weight of the confined liquid. It will be seen thatthe load resting upon this plate 30 is supported by the ring 2!] andthat it is transmitted from this ring by the cable iii to the upperlifting ring 20 and hook 22.

In using the disk-like supporting plate 30 contemplated by the presentinvention, the drum is preferably positioned so that the bung hole willbe at the upper end thereof, to facilitate the screwing of the faucet 28into the bung hole and the attachment of the supporting plate 30 to thering 29. As soon as this is done, the drum may be turned upside down bysuspending it as shown in Fig. l of the drawing so that the bung hole isnow at the lower end of the drum, and the lower drum wall i2 issupported by the disl: like plate 30 to prevent this lower wall fromdistorting and sagging downwardly under the weight of the liquidconfined in the drum.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protectby Letters Patent is:

1. In combination, a collapsible shipping drum having flexible wallsformed of reinforced plastic material and provided with a central cablewithin the drum that anchors one drum end to the other and has a liftingring outside the drum and attached to each cable end, a disk-likesupporting plate removably secured to the lower lifting ring outside ofthe drum and in position to support the flexible lower end of the drumthrough said cable when the drum is supported in a suspended conditionby its upper lifting ring and liquid is removed from the drum.

2. In combination, a collapsible shipping drum having a bung hole in oneend and formed of reinforced plastic material, said drum having acentral cable within the drum that anchors one drum end to the other anda lifting ring outside the drum and attached to each end of the cable, adisk-like supporting plate removably secured to the lower lifting ringoutside the drum and in positionto support the lower end of the drumthrough the cable when the .drum is supported in a suspended conditionwith its bung hole down by the upper lifting ring, whereby said platewill support the lower end of the drum as liquid is drained out of thebung hole.

3. In combination. a flexible and collapsible shipping drum formed ofreinforced plastic material and provided with a lifting ring at each endoutside the drum and a central cable inside the drum connecting therings, a disk-like supporting plate that can be attached to and removedfrom the full drum and having a projection shaped such that it may beinserted in one of said rings, means on said projection to engage thering with a locking action to removably secure the plate to such ring inposition to support the flexible lower end of the drum through saidcable when the drum is supported by its upper lifting ring in asuspended condition.

References Cited in the file of this patent Number UNITED STATES PATENTS

